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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25934194">We were victims of the night</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hybristophilica/pseuds/hybristophilica'>hybristophilica</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Code Lyoko</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 05:28:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,527</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25934194</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hybristophilica/pseuds/hybristophilica</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>His fingertips tingled and his head was spinning slightly every time he looked around, as if his body weighed more than he thought and it was having an hard time moving on its own. There were screams and shouts coming from several directions now, and Odd didn't understand who was emitting them until he turned to the side.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Odd Della Robbia/Ulrich Stern</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>38</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>We were victims of the night</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Are you coming to bed or not?” Ulrich asked for what he guessed was the third time that night. Odd was splayed gracelessly on the long armchair at the end of the bed, playing a video game that had been taking his mind off things for the last days. He raised his head up to glance at the other, waiting for him in bed already. Maybe it was time to go, after all.</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yeah, coming.” Finally turning the console off and putting it down, Odd jumped down the armchair and slid in bed beside him. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Ulrich was already under the sheets, one brown eye closed, the other fixed on him. Odd grinned, crawling on top of him and finally feeling some crumb of sleep pull him to the pillow. Ulrich’s arm wrapped around his shoulders and he kissed his temple, and Odd felt him relax against his body. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Ulrich wasn’t able to fall asleep alone. Well, yes, he technically could, but it usually took him a lot more to allow himself to sleep, and it wouldn’t be a much resting slumber unless Odd or Yumi were beside him. It wasn’t surprising really. Odd wasn’t very different. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">After a bit less than fifteen years, they still were unable to allow themselves to accept that Xana had been defeated, that they were alone now, that they were safe and didn't have to fight for their lives anymore. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It had taken a while for them to go back to their normal life after pulling the shutter of the elevator in the factory down for the last time. It wasn’t easy to wrap their head around the fact that the world didn't need their help anymore, and that they could start living a completely normal life. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The first years, it was almost bearable. Maybe it was because Jeremy and Aelita and Yumi felt exactly like them, and living all together helped, kind of. Talking about it with someone that understood helped. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was a matter of a few years before Odd and Ulrich decided to move out together, much to nobody’s surprise. And it was great at first, really. Ulrich treated him right, like he always had, and Odd didn’t doubt his feelings for him fro one moment. But living away from their first real home and from the others soon started to take a toll on his mental health, and Ulrich’s. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Therapy…helped. Kind of. Not that much, honestly. They both decided that it was still their best shot, but it wasn’t easy to explain to someone that definitely wouldn’t, and couldn’t, believe you what it meant to fight digital monsters inside of a computer, or what it meant to watch your best friends almost die over and over again while a wicked entity tried to take over and destroy the world. It wasn’t easy at all.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Could they really have a normal life, after all they’d witnessed and lived through? Odd wanted to believe so. Ulrich made him want to believe so. He pulled the sheets over his shoulder and closed his eyes, relishing in the warmth coming from Ulrich’s body and letting sleep pull him away.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"> <em>He found himself at school again, in the canteen. The lights were colder than he remembered them, and every now and then they would flicker. Odd moved slowly though the tables, observing with much displeasure how most of the food on the trays had been left untouched.</em> </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"> <em>“Hey? Is anybody here?” Odd noticed that his voice wasn’t actually his voice, or better, it was, but much lower and rougher, as if he’d been breathing air coming from the desert in the last ten years.</em> </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"> <em>A loud bang coming from behind the counter made him whip his head around in that direction. “Hello?” Nobody replied. He walked closer, and when he leaned forward to peak at what was behind the furniture, another bang distracted him, this time coming from behind one of the tables. “Who is there?!” Odd shouted, but like before, there was no answer. </em> </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"> <em>He then noticed a soft buzz, whispers and chatters that seemed to grow louder by the second. Soon, it became almost unbearable and he was starting to feel strange. His fingertips tingled and his head was spinning slightly every time he looked around, as if his body weighed more than he thought and it was having an hard time moving on its own. There were screams and shouts coming from several directions now, and Odd didn't understand who was emitting them until he turned to the side.</em> </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"> <em>Groups of boys and girls were scattered in the room, looking terrified with their fingers pointed at him. Why were they scared? He tried to step forward, and in the moment his foot moved, his body was shoved forward without his consent, making him stumble against a girl. She shouted and tried to push him away, causing her nails to scracth down Odd’s hands with a painful sting. When Odd looked down, it wasn’t the blood lining the back of his hands that scared him. It was the fact that his skin was of a dark shade of grey, with tiny darker bumps that looked like mosquito bites, but bigger and uglier, and they were everywhere.</em> </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"><em>“Stay away!” Someone shouted behind him, and even if what Odd wanted to ask was </em>Why<em>? He found himself unable to speak. Unlike a few moments ago, if he opened his mouth, only a terrifying, guttural growl would come out.</em></span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"><em>A tall boy on his left shoved him away and tried to sprint to the side, but for some reason, that didn't sit right with Odd. He grabbed the boy’s arm and tightened his grip until he was sure it hurt. He didn't know why, but he couldn’t let anyone escape. </em>Escape<em>?</em></span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"> <em>“Let him go!” Someone else shouted, hitting the back of Odd’s head with what he guessed was a chair. The object broke right after the impact Odd barely registered, and when he turned around, he came face to face with Ulrich. Unlike Odd, he looked exactly how he remembered him. Well, how Odd remembered him at that time. Still pretty skinny, still with the long bangs covering half of his forehead, still with that unmovable frown he so often used to wear. “I said let him go!” The second time, Odd let the boy go, because his attention was completely focused on Ulrich. </em> </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"> <em>He opened his mouth to say something, but his tongue was dry and his teeth too sharp, but he so badly wanted to speak, because there was something wrong in all of that. His intentions were split, making his head pulse and hurt too much to be able to make a well thought -if that was even possible- decision, but his body was in full control of him in that moment. He started walking towards Ulrich.</em> </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"> <em>Every step he took in his direction felt undeniably wrong, and Odd wanted to scream and to stop, but he couldn’t do neither. He watched with horror as his fingers wrapped around Ulrich’s throat and squeezed tight, too tight for the other to resist the grip and try to squirm away. </em> </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"> <em>“O-Odd,” Ulrich called him weakly, moving his own hands up. Instead of trying to shove Odd’s hands away, he gently grabbed them, almost caressing his grey ugly skin as he gasped his las breaths and life slowly abandoned his body.</em> </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“NO!” Odd woke up with a scream, sitting rapidly on the bed and clenching at the shirt on his chest with an hand. Ulrich woke up as well with a jolt, quickly rolling to Odd’s side of the bed with a worried expression. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What happened? Was it a nightmare again?” He asked rather calmly, sitting beside him. Odd nodded, wiped the tears away from his cheeks and exhaled sharply.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“It was…in the canteen again. I was killing you. My zombie self— was killing you, I mean,” he muttered weakly, glad that Ulrich hadn’t turned the lights on at all.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Ulrich hummed softly, probably remembering. He didn't stop caressing Odd’s back up and down for a single moment. Only after Odd’s breathing calmed down did Ulrich pull him against his chest and invited him to lay down again. “Do you want to talk about it?” He asked against Odd’s shoulder before placing a gentle kiss on it.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Odd shook his head. He had no need to tell him about his nightmares night after night. They were always the same, abut no matter how many times those images haunted him, it didn't get any easier. He shifted on his side, leaning his head in the crook of Ulrich’s arm. Ulrich caressed is fingers through his hair, trying to reassure him with that gentle and slow petting that Odd never admitted he loved so much, and that worked every time. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Thank you,” he murmured against Ulrich’s chest after a bit. Ulrich didn't say anything, but even in the dim light Odd could see his tiny smile. It almost made him smile too. After a few minutes, Ulrich had fallen asleep again, and Odd watched him rest until the first lights of the morning shone.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thank you for reading!</p><p>title is from shut up and dance with me by walk the moon</p></blockquote></div></div>
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